For La Jolla Historical Society exhibit, female artists created works to celebrate 10 women who were pioneers in the community

Courtesy photo

Bhavna Mehta's work is part of a new exhibit at the La Jolla Historical Society's Wisteria Cottage Gallery called “Tangible Memories: Recollections of La Jolla Pioneer Women.”

Bhavna Mehta's work is part of a new exhibit at the La Jolla Historical Society's Wisteria Cottage Gallery called “Tangible Memories: Recollections of La Jolla Pioneer Women.” (Courtesy photo)

Martina Schimitschek

In the past two years, we have seen millions of people take to the streets marching for women’s rights, the #MeToo movement topple powerful men from powerful positions and a record number of women run for public office. The 116th Congress has more women than ever before.

But this surge of women taking leadership roles is nothing new for La Jolla.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, women shaped the fabric of the coastal enclave, bringing in the arts as well as science and academics — from Ellen Browning Scripps, whose generosity left a legacy that includes the world-renowned Scripps Institution of Oceanography, to architects Lilian Rice and Florence Palmer and Louis Balmer, who established a school that is now La Jolla Country Day School.

The accomplishments of 10 of these pioneering women are explored through the lens of 10 local women artists in “Tangible Memories: Recollections of La Jolla Pioneer Women,” an exhibition at the La Jolla Historical Society’s Wisteria Cottage Gallery. Each artist was assigned one woman to research and capture through art.

“It’s a new and different perspective on women’s issues,” said Heath Fox, executive director of the La Jolla Historical Society. “All of these women, for their time, were really well-educated and interested in a wide range of subjects.”

They were suffragettes and founders and members of the La Jolla Women’s Club, a place where they could discuss current affairs and literature. (The club is still active today with a focus on women’s issues.)

While Ellen Browning Scripps and her sister Virginia are well-known for their philanthropy, others have left their mark on the community in less obvious ways. Mary Elizabeth Bennett Ritter was a doctor who championed women’s health. When her husband became the founder and first director of the Scripps Institution for Oceanography, which was funded by Scripps and called the Marine Biological Station, she gave up her practice to help run the fledgling institute.

Artist Taylor Chapin captures glimpses of Ritter’s life with three oil paintings. Ellen Browning Scripps is portrayed by ceramic artist Cheryl Tall. In a life-size statue, Scripps wears a full-length skirt created with handmade tiles depicting sea life. She wears a hat with a pink bird on top representing all her projects that have taken flight.

Tall’s thought process can be seen in the five maquettes, small statues representing different aspects of Scripps — as a designer, traveler, writer, woman of La Jolla and ultimately the sea.

Eliza Virginia Scripps was Ellen’s outspoken half-sister. She followed Theosophy and spiritualism, gave generously to the community, loved the color purple and built the Wisteria Cottage, which houses the museum. To capture Virginia’s independent spirit, artist Tara Centybear looked to today’s strong women in arts. She painted portraits of Dinah Poellnitz, owner of Oceanside’s Hill Street Country Club gallery; Alessandra Moctezuma, director of the Mesa College art gallery; and Kara West, former director of the Central Library’s gallery.

The women in the paintings have purple scarves covering their eyes to symbolize that pieces of their identity are hidden and over time will be forever lost.

“There’s a definite connection between the women of today and the women of the past,” said Danielle Deery, the exhibition’s curator. Deery came up with the idea for “Tangible Memories” in 2016 during Hillary Clinton’s bid for the White House.

“I wanted to look at how far we’ve come and look at how the women of La Jolla paved the way,” Deery said. “It was an interesting time period.”

She asked the La Jolla Historical Society to come up with a list of 15 influential women and then invited the artists to select their top three. Deery then made the final matchup of 10 based on the artists’ responses.

Some of the women were responsible for bringing art and culture to La Jolla. Anna Held Heinrich established the Green Dragon Colony, which brought artists, musicians and writers to the community. Mary Richmond Pressly also built an artistic community. Richmond Court became the home for many visiting writers and artists, including painter Robert Henri.

Collage artist Bridget Rountree uses scenes of early La Jolla in re-creating three of Henri’s paintings channeling the people and places important to Pressly. Heinrich is represented through a ceramic sculpture by Lee Puffer that incorporates a bust of Heinrich painted with the Green Dragon Colony on a cylinder that includes piano keys. An accompanying sculpture of a Jack Russell terrier is a tribute to the connection of the two women. Puffer has a Jack Russell, which was also the breed of Heinrich’s dog.

While most of the women represented in the exhibition lived in La Jolla around the turn of the 20th century and were well off, artist Bhavna Mehta chose a different trailblazer for her cut paper and embroidery piece. Mabel Bell was one of the first African-American homeowners in La Jolla in 1950 when she bought her home on Draper Avenue with her husband, David. Bell, who loved her community, was an activist for the poor and member of S.O.F.A. (Strongly Oriented for Action), which lobbied for housing for African-Americans in the segregated community.

The issues the historical women were dealing with are still relevant today, Fox said.

“The exhibition comes a timely moment with the assertion of women’s rights and ascendancy of women in politics,” he said. “It’s not just to report the past, but to relate it to today.”